One last fling for this calendar year had me making the run over to the St Paul side of town to Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine's University for this intriguing non-conference battle between Buena Vista out of the ARC making the trip up to the Cities to take on host St. Kate's. It's been tough sledding thus far for this young Beavers team that was coming into this contest sporting a 1-8 record and had made a trip just a short while ago to the Cities as well where they found themselves on the wrong end of the ledger against North Central out of the UMAC. It hasn't exactly been easy either for the Wildcats as they took it on the chin early this month from nationally-ranked GAC so it was plain to see that both teams not only wanted to end 2023 on a good not but also gain a little bit of momentum before heading into the meat of their respective conference schedules.
The 'Cats certainly got off to the kind of start that Head Coach Don Mulhern and his staff had hoped for as they would bolt out to an early 7-1 advantage. Surprising freshman guard Hattie Fox was able to snare the opening tip and race to the hole for lay-up at the 9:56 mark of this first period and an offensive rebound and putback by lanky sophomore forward Emme Golembiewski at the 8:52 mark gave St. Kate's a 4-0 lead. Then willowy junior forward Greta Schimnowski would start heating up from behind the arc as she would drain her first trey of the afternoon from the top of the key off of an inbounds pass at the 6:57 mark to up the Wildcat lead to 7-1. Buena Vista finally shook off some of the early jitters as lanky sophomore forward/post Jenna Hallock got into the paint for a score at the 6:44 mark. But the Beavers would have to absorb another score by Schimnowski in the form of a lay-up at the 6:27 before they could finally crawl back to within a single possession when speedy junior guard McKenna Cone drilled a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:12 mark that cut the home team's lead to 9-6. But St. Kate's would then step on the accelerator again as Schimnowski would bury her second trey of this contest at the 5:25 mark from the left top area and then Golembiewski would connect with a lay-up at the 5:06 mark to up the Wildcats lead to 14-6 and Buena Vista Head Coach David Wells; not at all liking how things were unfolding, decided to take a match to a timeout. This initial stoppage in play appeared to pay dividends for the Beavers as sophomore guard Danika Demers would drain a "3" from the top of the key with 4:50 left that had the deficit down to five at 14-9. But the 2-1-2 zone defense that Buena Vista's Wells was employing was not shutting down the 'Cats Schimnowski as her drive and finish with 4:14 left would enable St. Kate's to control things down the home stretch of this opening period. Slender junior reserve forward Sydney Elliot would connect on a short, turnaround jumper with 2:17 left and reserve sophomore point guard Kaylee Miron would add one free throw with 1:58 left as the Wildcats were able to expand their lead to 19-11.
And St. Kate's would establish more separation once the second period got underway. Two Schimnowski free throws after she was fouled at the 9:35 mark helped spark a 7-0 run. Schimnowski would also unleash more terror from behind the arc as she would bury a bomb from the right corner at the 9:08 mark and a short floater in the lane by senior point guard Karis Zezza at the 8:23 mark capped this important run to get the Wildcat lead to 26-11 before Buena Vista finally found some semblance of offense. Sophomore reserve guard Abby Nagel would make a tough drive and finish at the 7:17 mark and another three-point bomb by Cone at the 6:42 mark got the deficit back to ten at 26-16. But the match would start working against the Beavers even more as St. Kate's would get it's lead back to fifteen thanks to Fox as she would first snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 6:27 mark and then would bang home a "3" from the left top area at the 5:11 mark to give the 'Cats a 31-16 lead. Buena Vista would try again as Cone would unleash her third trey of this ballgame from the left wing area with 4:50 left that cut the deficit to twelve but that was about the lone bright spot for the Beavers coming down the stretch of this second period as St. Kate's would embark on a 13-2 scoring spree. Miron would knock down a jumper from the left top area just inside the arc with 4:02 left and sophomore reserve guard Maddie Young would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 3:31 left to make it 34-19. Then Miron; who hails from across the St. Croix River over at Dresser, WI, would bury a dagger "3" from the left wing area with 3:04 left to make it 37-19. Young would muscle into traffic in the lane for a tough score in the paint with 2:33 left and then sophomore reserve guard Kristen Lawton would play the thief in the night with her steal at midcourt and lay-up the other way with 2:04 left to push the lead to 41-21. With 1:04 left, Miron would add the finishing touches to this latest run with yet another dagger trey - this one from the left wing area as the Wildcats took a cushy 44-21 lead into the locker room at the half.
St. Kate's appeared to get off on the right foot once the third period got going as Zezza would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 8:22 mark to give the 'Cats their largest lead so far at 46-21. Yet Mulhern wasn't going to take any chances of having his team blow yet another big lead and when the Beavers responded with two quick scores - a jumper from the left wing off of an inbounds pass by Demers at the 6:54 mark and a "3" by sophomore reserve forward Sidney Reimer from the right wing area at the 6:14 mark - he quickly called for a thirty-second timeout to get his squad refocused on the defensive end. That short stoppage in play certainly seemed to get his squad's attention and they quickly stepped into action - especially Schimnowski as she would slay the visitors from Storm Lake, IA with back-to-back three-point bombs - one from the top of the key at the 5:44 mark and another one from the right corner with 4:13 left that now had the Wildcats up more comfortably again at 52-26. Freshman reserve forward Lily Peper would get a tough score in the paint with 3:34 left and a jumper from the free throw line area in transition by Young with 2:13 left pushed the St. Kate's lead to 56-28. Then Elliot would connect with a jumper along the right baseline with 1:33 left that gave the Wildcats their largest lead yet at 58-28 before Buena Vista could do a bit of damage control. Lanky freshman reserve guard Allie Leisher would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with :52.4 left and Demers would bury a "3" from the left corner with :37 left but St. Kate's would add one last score for this third period on a jumper along the left baseline by sophomore reserve post Maddie Rosen with :22 left as the Wildcats owned a sizable 60-32 advantage.
Once the fourth period got underway, you have to think that Mulhern told his team that they couldn't get complacent with such a sizable lead. And two early fourth period scores by St. Kate's - a drive along the right baseline and pretty reverse lay-up by Young at the 9:26 mark and a short shot along the right baseline at the 8:49 mark by Miron - re-established the thirty-point advantage at 64-34. And a short shot by Golembiewski off of an inbounds pass at the 6:41 mark would balloon the Wildcat lead to 67-34. Buena Vista could have easily folded its tent right then and there but one thing you have to like about this young Beaver team is that they kept fighting and scratching till the final buzzer despite the fact that things looked utterly hopeless. Cone would show off more of her three-point prowess with a bomb from the left corner at the 5:37 mark and Leisher would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 4:33 left. Cone would get one free throw to go down after being fouled in a transition opportunity with 3:05 left and Demers would bury a "3" from the left corner with 2:27 left. Hallock would connect with lay-ups with 2:01 and 1:31 left and Demers would get one more "3" to go down with :52.3 left. Not enough to alter the final outcome, of course, as St. Kate's bagged the 69-50 victory but the Beavers did show heart after being down by so much.
I was able to catch up with St. Kate's Assistant Coach Ben Fleming afterward and while he said it wasn't necessarily the perfect game, he did agree with my assessment that a win like this might give this Wildcat team some much-needed momentum as it prepares the delve into the meat of the MIAC regular season right after the first of the year. You look at the final box score of this game and everything was pointed in favor of the Wildcats by solid margins: Rebounding 51-33. Points in the paint 32-18. "Second chance" points at 20-8. Bench points as well at 31-12. So obviously, it was easy to see that this game was going to go pretty much the way it did. Yet, at the same time, when I watch this St. Kate's team play, it often seems to me like they get too reliant on the three-point bomb as a primary weapon as opposed to being a complimentary component of their overall strategy. When the Wildcats get their run and gun game going, they're incredibly difficult for opponents and Mulhern has the right types of players to run that style. And when they've got that clicking the way they want, that'll open up the opportunities for the three-point shooters they have - particularly Schimnowski. And when you have that going as well, then opponents have to start respecting that and then that will presumably open up opportunities for the drive and dribble thing that the Wildcats are good at as well. But we've seen before where St. Kate's gets the tempo slowed down on them and when they get relegated to playing more of a half-court game, that's where problems start appearing and when they start jacking up low-percentage three-point attempts, it only adds to the problem. Today, for example, the Wildcats were only 8-25 from behind the arc for a straight 32.0%. They were able to get away with that today but it might be a completely different story against a better team. Free throw shooting had to be another concern for Mulhern on this day as the 'Cats were only 5-12 for 41.7%. Again, they were able to get away with that today. But that likely won't be the case come the first of the year.
I also got to spend a little time with Buena Vista's Wells afterward as well. I couldn't help but notice what an incredibly young team this is with only one senior (Addison Weber) while the rest of the roster is peppered with primarily freshmen and sophomores and a few juniors. Wells told me that the complexion of his roster took a hit at the beginning of the year when two seniors left the team. So he was quick to acknowledge that there's going to be some growing pains along the way for this young squad. I also pointed out that Cone; the junior out of Greeley, CO, seems to be quite the up-and-coming player for this Buena Vista team and she seems like the vocal leader on the floor. Wells told me that on the trip up to the Twin Cities for this game, Cone had received news that her Grandmother had passed away so obviously she was playing in this game with an incredibly heavy heart. Yet, she didn't let that deter her in any way, shape or form today as both she and Demers led the way with 16 points a piece. I've had some experience with that before as a competitive tennis player. It's an incredibly tough thing to do. All I can do is tip my hat to her. She is one tough cookie and best to her going forward......
It was quite the day for the Wildcats' Schimnowski as she easily led all scorers with her 21 points and she was 5-7 from downtown on this day as well. Miron had a solid day as well with her 11 points and Young is becoming a force on the boards for St. Kate's as she pulled down nine rebounds on this day.
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